The Clash of the Champions were a series of professional wrestling television specials aired by World Championship Wrestling. The specials were supercards intended to feature pay-per-view caliber matches, similar to World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) Saturday Night's Main Event. Clash Of Champions shows were famous for typically not airing commercials during matches even though many of these matches were 20 minutes or more. The first Clash of the Champions was held on March 27, 1988 by Jim Crockett Promotions[1] and was entitled NWA: Clash of the Champions. Subsequent Clash events had different subtitles, i.e. Clash of the Champions II: Miami Mayhem, up until Clash of the Champions XVI: Fall Brawl 1991 which was the last to feature a subtitle. Jim Crockett Promotions was sold to Ted Turner and renamed World Championship Wrestling in 1988, and WCW continued to air the events until 1997. The rights to Clash of the Champions now belong to WWE. All 35 episodes are available for on-demand viewing on the WWE Network.

Following this incident, McMahon was warned by the PPV industry not to schedule PPV events simultaneously with the NWA again. However, he was still not willing to fully cooperate with Crockett, and on January 24, 1988, another scheduling conflict took place between the WWF and NWA. The NWA presented the Bunkhouse Stampede on PPV, while on the same night, the WWF aired the first ever Royal Rumble for free on the USA Network.[1]

In 1988, with the WWF's WrestleMania IV around the corner, Crockett decided to give McMahon a taste of his own medicine. He would develop his own PPV-caliber event and air it for free on TBS. The result was the Clash of the Champions.[1]

On March 27, 1988 – the same night as WrestleMania - the first Clash of the Champions aired. The first show was of PPV caliber and it made Sting a star after he wrestled NWA World Champion Ric Flair to a 45-minute draw. WCW would repeat the practice again the following year with a Clash coinciding with the WWF's WrestleMania V. Although the main event of NWA Champion Ricky Steamboat defeating Flair in a best of three falls match was widely considered the best wrestling match that took place among the two promotions on that day, ratings and attendance for the event fell well below expectations and the practice of conflicting major events would cease until the Monday Night Wars began in 1995.

Clash events continued on a sporadic basis over the next nine years, quickly changing focus to become a free marketing vehicle for NWA/WCW PPV events, similar to the WWF's Saturday Night's Main Event. WCW aired the 35th and last Clash of the Champions on August 21, 1997.

Tommy Rogers originally pinned Bobby Eaton to win the titles but the decision was reversed because Rogers' partner, Bobby Fulton, threw referee Randy Anderson over the top rope before the pinfall was made.

Patty Mullen awarded her decision to Ric Flair, while Gary Juster chose Sting as the winner. Sandy Scott ruled it a draw and no other judges' decisions were announced. Therefore, the match was ruled a draw - with Flair retaining the title.

The referee is knocked out near the end of the match prompting Ric Flair and Barry Windham to interfere, resulting in a double disqualification.

Throughout the show, wrestlers were being interviewed as they arrived to the building, most notably, Lex Luger who was attacked by the Four Horsemen and was busted open after being slammed head first into the trunk of his limo. This was a big deal at the time as it was the first time Luger had bled while in the NWA. This would also be an important factor in the conclusion of Luger's match against Ric Flair at the 1988 Great American Bash PPV.

Clash of the Champions III took place on September 7, 1988 at the Albany Civic Center in Albany, Georgia . There were 3,700 people in attendance and the show drew a 5.4 rating on TBS. Fall Brawl would later become a regular PPV event for WCW.[5]

Clash of the Champions IV took place on December 7, 1988 at the UTC Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There were 8000 people in attendance and the show drew a 4.5 rating on TBS.[6] This show set up Starrcade '88. It was on this show that TBS/NWA experimented with a top down camera angle, which did not catch on. This is comparable to the "refer-eye" camera from Halloween Havoc'91.

Clash of the Champions V took place on February 15, 1989 at the Cleveland Convention Center in Cleveland, Ohio. There were 5,000 people in attendance and the show drew a 4.6 rating on TBS. This show was warm up show for the Chi-Town Rumble PPV only 5 days later.[7]

Steamboat pinned Flair after a failed double chickenwing attempt. Flair fell on top of Steamboat, both men's shoulders were down, but Steamboat got his left shoulder up before the three count in the third fall (21:35).

The replay would show that Flair's foot was on the bottom rope, thus allowing him to get one last rematch at WrestleWar 1989.

After the match, Sting attempted to unmask the Black Scorpion, tearing away his black mask only to reveal a red mask underneath, The Scorpion quickly escaped when The "real" Black Scorpion appeared on the entrance ramp. Although he was never truly unmasked, the Black Scorpion Sting wrestled was Al Perez.

This was originally scheduled as a 6-man tag team match with Bobby Eaton on the Freebirds team and El Gigante on the Southern Boys team, but before the match El Gigante was "injured" by the Freebirds, and the match was therefore changed to a regular tag team match.

Flair and Reed both won coin tosses to determine who would represent their respective teams, while their respective partners Arn Anderson and Ron Simmons remained at ringside.

Since Flair won, Flair and Anderson earned a rematch against Doom for the NWA World Tag Team titles at Starrcade and Teddy Long had to be Flair's chauffeur for a day. Had Butch Reed won, Teddy Long would have gotten the Yacht and Limosine and there would have been no rematch at Starrcade.

Clash of the Champions XIV took place on January 30, 1991 at the Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville, Georgia. There were 2200 fans in attendance and the show drew a 3.9 rating on TBS.[17] This was the first Clash after WCW left the NWA. Dusty Rhodes returned to WCW following a brief stint in the WWF(E) as the new booker and as Color Commentator. It was originally set to be held at the CNN Center in Atlanta, but due to security reasons arising from the escalation of the Persian Gulf War, it was moved to the Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville.

The Patriots defeated The Freebirds to win the WCW United States Tag Team Championship on August 12, but the match didn't air yet, so the Freebirds were announced as the champions. Furthermore, the titles were not on the line, making it a non-title match.

Steiner and Kazmaier defeated The Ringlords and One Man Gang and The Executioner to advance to the finals, while The Enforcers defeated The Young Pistols and The Patriots to advance to the finals.

This was a tournament final.

Earlier in the evening, Kazmaier was performing "feats of strength" in the ring when Anderson and Zbyszko attacked and injured his ribs with a weight plate. They exploited this injury during the actual match to gain the victory and the Tag Team Titles.

Clash of the Champions XVII took place on November 19, 1991 at the Savannah Civic Center in Savannah, Georgia. There were 6,922 fans in attendance and the show drew a 4.3 rating on TBS.[20]
Prior to this show, Sting had received "Mystery Boxes" which revealed Cactus Jack and Abdullah The Butcher. This Clash was to reveal who was actually sending the boxes to Sting. It turned out to be Lex Luger. A match involving Arachnaman and Richard Morton was scheduled for this show, but ended up not taking place.

Clash of the Champions XVIII took place on January 21, 1992 at the Kansas Expo Center in Topeka, Kansas. There were 5500 fans in attendance and the show drew a 3.7 rating on TBS.[21] This event was a set-up for SuperBrawl II and saw the WCW debut of Jesse Ventura.

André the Giant did an interview at the event. This was his last U.S television appearance.

The scheduled WCW World Light Heavyweight Championship match between champion Brad Armstrong and challenger Brian Pillman never took place, due to Armstrong's knee injury and vacating the title. Pillman began his first heel turn during this event, after he became enraged at Armstrong for not defending the title.

After the match Windham berated Rhodes for not going in for the kill on an injured Steamboat during the match. Windham then turned on Rhodes and hit him with his new finisher, the Implant DDT. Windham then went backstage, attacking Steamboat and Douglas with a steel chair while they were being interviewed by Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

Originally, it was scheduled to be Sting, Rhodes, Ron Simmons, and Van Hammer against Vader, Windham, The Barbarian, and Rick Rude; due to injuries, Hammer and Rude dropped out and Orndorff took Rude's place. Earlier on the show, Vader's team got rid of Barbarian, and Vader injured Simmons. Cactus Jack came in during the match, siding with Sting and Rhodes, thus turning face.

Slater replaced WCW World Television Champion Paul Orndorff, who was injured in a car accident.

Earlier, Payne shot Badd in the face with his Baddblaster.

Two out of three falls results

Flair pinned Pillman (9:41)

Blonds were disqualified (11:06)

Although they won two straight falls, Anderson and Flair did not win the titles because the interference by Barry Windham caused the Hollywood Blonds to get disqualified in the second fall, thus the titles could not change hands.

Flair pinned Vader and the ref counted the three, but decided to reverse the decision, changing it to Flair defeats Vader by a disqualification after Vader accidentally striking the referee and knocking him down. As a result, Vader retained the championship.

Ric Flair won the International World Heavyweight Title unifying it with his own title, bringing an end to the existence of the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship, although the belt itself would now represent the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

This was the first Clash of the Champions in Charleston since 1992 and the first to be held in the newly opened North Charleston Coliseum.

Regal injured his knee during the opening dark match against Benoit. Benoit bled from the eye after receiving several headbutts.

The show featured the wedding of Col. Robert Parker and Sista Sherri, which was interrupted by Madusa, who was revealed to have been seeing Parker on the side.

The Pillman/Guerrero match featured Pillman grabbing ringside commentator Bobby Heenan's jacket neck from behind, with Heenan yelling "What the fuck are you doing?" on television and later apologizing for his comments.

Disco forfeited his match to perform at Parker & Sherri's wedding. This was revealed by an Elvis Impersonator (Mike Winner) who Sullivan attacked.

The Road Warriors returned at this event and challenged WCW Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger, with Sting agreeing to a match despite Luger being reluctant.

Debra McMichael, Linda Bollea, Woman, Elizabeth, and several other women initially came to the ring with Hogan & Savage.

It was reported that Ric Flair, who lost the WCW World Title to Savage one day prior, threatened to quit WCW unless the finish to the main event (Hogan pinning Flair with the legdrop) was changed. At the event, Flair pinned Savage after use of a foreign object.

Live reports claim 75% of the crowd left during the dark match that closed the show.

The main event was originally announced as a standard tag match, but was changed to a match for Hall and Kevin Nash's tag team titles before it began, with Savage subbing for Nash under the Freebird rule.